So basically the insurance company came up with an amount that they would pay but the board wanted to give me some and keep a portion for themselves. 

My advice to any beginner is to allot a portion of time each day (like sleeping) to educate themselves ( BP forums, books, etc) as much as possible to have a better chance of staying in the game until things get great for them. 

And over the past 10 years my renters have paid off a huge portion of my loans.

The distressed portion of that market is also in the trillion dollar range.  

They may be ok with you borrowing a portion of it and you could avoid the rollover and potentially higher fees of a solo 401k!  

Colleagues are able to see private portions of your profile.

Have them sign a one or two year lease with option to purchase, collect an up front option fee and charge them a premium rent rate (a portion of which could be credited back to them toward down payment if they exercise the option).

If your grandparents were using the driveway and well a new buyer might have a case to take that portion of your dads property via adverse possession.

I know here in CA, if your screening criteria is 3x rent, you can only require a S8 tenant to make 3x their portion of the rent as income. 

That hurts your returns.With a pool, or a big enough pot of your own cash, like your friend, the lumpiness is reduced because a large portion of the cash is invested most of the time.